GASabresIUFAN

Byram. I think his O skill set is just as good as Power's. I think he is a better skater. He is obviously more physical (so is the guy in the mailroom) and he is working hard on improving defensively.

1. There are hundreds of players in the NHL without trade limitations. 2. If Adams or his successor doesn't get players who can actually play defense than this rebuild 3.0 will continue to fail 3. If Adams can't convince the necessary players to come here, than we need to replace him. This isn't fantasy land, it's how a good team should be managed. Waiting another 3 years for Power to become average defensively while wasting $8.35 mill a year on the player is simply terrible management of the roster and the cap.

Remember having Dahlin Power and Byram has yielded the top scoring D threesome in the NHL, but what has that done for the team? The PP still stinks and the team is in last place in the Eastern conference. You trade Power away to not only add defensive D, which are a much bigger need now than a 3rd offensive D, but also to free up cap space to keep vets like Zucker and Greenway. Truthfully I'm not at all worried about 3 years from now. I want to be a playoff team next season and adding defensive D will bring us much closer to that goal than keeping Power. Also by 3 years from now, Novikov, Komarov and Strbak will likely be on the Sabres hopefully giving us cheap and effective defenders who actually play defense to go with Dahlin and Byram.

We have all been conditioned to think the worst about Adams and the Sabres' ability to attract outside talent. There is no question after 14 years of failure, it's a huge factor in bringing in players. However winning isn't the only thing players care about. Money is a factor, playing time is also a factor as is proximity to family. Van just added Pettersson to play in their top 4 dropping Soucy to their bottom pair. Maybe he'd waive the NTC to get top 4 PT. There is no harm in asking. That said there are other possibilities.

Good Gm's always seem to find the right guys in trade or free agency even when their teams suck. By the way there are 2 Russian D who I would love for Adams to acquire in free agency. They are smart accomplished vets and would be good mentors for our kids and for the Russian in the AHL. They are Orlov (33) who still play 20 minutes a game for Carolina and Gavrikov (29) with is playing 24 minutes a night for LA. I don't think either team can afford to re-sign these players. I'd love both, but would settle for just one.

Further proof that Adams is incompetent and has no idea how to build or support his roster. I want him gone as much as anyone else, but realize he isn't going anywhere. Our only hope is that he somehow gets a clue and fixes the team. This maybe a forlorn hope, but it's all we got.

Adams has treated the entire team disgracefully by not acquiring defensemen who can play defense. However, while you cannot like who Power is paired with, his defensive shortcomings and unwillingness to engage physically is all on him. For example Carson Soucey is available.

So you overpay him for 5 years so that you may or may not get full value for the final 3 years of the deal? How does that make sense?

I'm sorry, but there is not enough money to keep all 3 without dumping salary elsewhere. That doesn't include any upgrades on defense or offense. By the way according to the Athletic, Power is giving us 4.4 mill in value (thus a deficiency of 4 million) while Byram is giving us 5.9 million worth of value (a $2 mill surplus on the 3.9 he's being paid.)

It's kind of sad that a team that remains at the bottom of the standings for 14 years has the 11th best pipeline, while the team leading the NHL in points Washington has the 9th best prospect pool and they have made the playoffs (& won a Cup) in 11 of the last 13 years. Minn has the 2nd best pool. They have made the playoffs 10 of 13 years and are solidly in a playoff spot this year. Has any team in NHL history been this poorly managed?

The goalie was bad last night, but the problem remains the defensemen.

What is the Sabres W/L record in games they block more shots than their opponent? In the last 10 games the Sabres are 4-6, but went 3-0 in games they blocked more shots, 1-0 in games they blocked the same number of shots and 0-6 in games they blocked less shots then their opponent. Coincidence or highly correlated to winning and losing?

Great job guys staying in the bottom 5!

You just can't trust the media anymore.

Turning the Sabres into the Lollipop Guild one player at a time.

@Brawndo If this is really Adams attitude toward his players, then Aaron is right; this team is really cooked with Adams in charge.

Let me do the math for you. If the Sabres run it back with the forwards by re-sign Zucker, Greenway, McLeod, Quinn, JJP and Kozak, the team will have 14 forwards under contract for $51638968 using AFP's contract estimates plus Skinner's buyout hit. If they re-sign Byram long-term and Reimer to back up UPL, the team will spend an additional $39764047 on 5D and 2G, leaving 2 roster spots open for additional D. That brings the Cap to 91.4 million with zero upgrades on either offense or defense and almost no money to complete the roster. With Samuelsson's injury, I believe they can no longer buy him out. There goes an opportunity to free up 3.5 in cap space. This is not a workable solution if this team is ever going to improve. A few someones have to be traded. The media "experts" have Byram and Cozens on their deadline trade boards. I'd prefer the Sabres to trade Power. Regardless, If they trade Cozens and Byram or Cozens and Power, that removes 14-15 mill in cap cost for 25/26 allowing the Sabres to improve the D and find a playmaker for the top 6 forwards. This analysis assumes that Pegula is willing to spend to the cap. What if he sets the internal cap at 85 million? What then?

Maybe we can do a injury settlement and buy him out that way.

Wheeler at the Athletic has Minn with the No. 2 prospect pipeline. The Wild have built this pipeline all while remaining competitive (playoffs 10 of 13 years) despite buying out multiple huge contracts. The Washington Capitals, who rebuilt their NHL team on the fly and now have the best record in the NHL, have also managed to rebuild their pipeline which is ranked 9th by Wheeler. The Caps have made the playoffs 11 of the last 13 years and won a Cup. The Sabres pipeline, despite 13 years straight of missing the playoffs, is ranked 11th. Just 2 more examples of how badly this team is managed. This whole organization is rotten to the core. They have zero idea how to draft, develop or build an NHL team. The higher cap is just going to make things worse. Well managed teams will use the extra cap dollars to win, while the Sabres become the Miami Marlins of the NHL.

The Sabres new motto is "Destroying Our Fanbase One Game at a Time"

Does it really matter?

Different coach and system. So the 23/24 numbers aren’t really relevant. Also just because Dahlin and Byram are our best pair, that doesn’t make them great or even good. They are the best of a terrible group. No team that is in the bottom four in the NHL in goals allowed is good at defense.

You are using multi season numbers https://www.naturalstattrick.com/pairings.php?fromseason=20242025&thruseason=20242025&stype=2&sit=5v5&score=all&rate=n&team=BUF&loc=B&toi=0&gpfilt=none&fd=&td=&tgp=410

This doesn't work under the cap. We cannot afford to spend $27 mill on 3 puck moving LHDs. One of Byram or Power will have to go in order to fix the holes on this roster. You cannot spend $27 mill, and still spend on a top 6 playmaker, good stay at home D, re-sign vets like Zucker and Greenway and pay the RFAs like JJP and McLeod. There just isn't enough cap space. Also Dahlin and Byram are not a great pair. Dahlin is great and is literally covering for the D shortcomings of everyone he plays with. Put Dahlin with any of our D and their XGF turns positive, put that same D with anyone else and the opposite is true. Power w Dahlin has a XGF of 70.24%, Byram with Dahlin XGF 53.6%, Dahlin w Joker XGF 54.72%, Dahlin with Clifton XGF 57.19, Dahlin w Samuelsson XGF 69.41. In fact, Dahlin's xGF is better without Byram than with, although some of the sample size is small from this season Byram w Joker xGF 35.88, Byram w Samuelsson XGF 41.68, Byram w Power 42.89, Byram w Bryson 46.89 Power's numbers are just as bad. Face the fact that Power and Byram are not good defensively. Keeping both would be a huge mistake. Power is never going to play to the level of an $8.35 a year D. His offense isn't good enough to justify that number and his defense it beyond awful.

For now, but I don’t think it’s the long-term plan.